


Minstrel's Lament (aka Looking For that One Story)

by Dreamharp



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 09:17:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20543765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamharp/pseuds/Dreamharp
Summary: The Wandering Minstrel is the keeper of all stories about Eorzea, but what can he do when he can't find the one stuck in his head?





	Minstrel's Lament (aka Looking For that One Story)

“GAAAAAAH!” 

With a primal yell, the masked man upended his large bag, seemingly oblivious to the silence of the normally boisterous establishment. Pouring from the bag, for much longer than a bag of its size should have been able to, scrolls and books of every shape and size soon littered the floor in a respectable heap. 

Abandoning his chair, the man pounced on the pile, starting with the books and barely glancing at covers or title pages as he threw them haphazardly into the corner. 

The silence in the bar, previously momentary, stretched into uncomfortable as the normally implacable ‘wandering minstrel’ (who really only wandered to the facilities or to the bar) seemed to be having a mental breakdown. No one wanted to be the first to break the spell and possibly receive a lyre to the head, like the last person who had insulted the minstrel’s playing. 

“No...no...no” the minstrel muttered, in what should have been under his breath but slowly reached a fever pitch. 

One by one, with time seeming to slow for the bewildered audience. Only the bartender kept cleaning glasses with a rag. It was against the bartender’s guild policy to be surprised at anything, of course. 

Books finished, folios received the same treatment, pages abused and joining their fellows in a commiserating pile to sulk in the unwanted. 

Crawling toward one near the entrance to the Solar, the minstrel stopped as a pair of boots came into view, though he didn’t let that dissuade him from his target: a small scroll just to the person’s right. A slender, gloved hand reached down and handed it to him, casually but musically inquiring what was wrong. 

“I’m looking for that one story I can’t quite remember” he babbled. “It stars the Warrior of Light, but something goes wrong in the liberation of Ala Mhigo… the empire cheats and tranquilizes her...then she’s before Zenos…who is about to make her his courtesan! How will she survive!?”

He shuffled through yet more pages, on the verge of tears. “It had such potential, but it wasn’t done, and now I can’t find it to finish it or re-read it. It haunts me!”

Opening the scroll, he saw it wasn’t his target and he threw it toward the corner, but missed and it sailed over the bar. The bartender glared at him. 

Curling into a ball against the wall, the minstrel heard a voice from somewhere nearby ask, “couldn’t you use your aether to search for the text you remember?” 

“I TRIED!” he wailed, tears fully breaking out. “Each phrase! Each word!”

“It’s like it’s gone! I don’t know how! All the stories about Eorzea come to me!”

The minstrel didn’t know how long he wept; only it was until he felt completely spent and felt himself drifting to an unwilling sleep.

Then, distantly, he heard the voice…

“Wait, they liked that?” 

“I thought it was silly and deleted it.”

**Author's Note:**

> This silly piece is inspired by my reading into so many great works lately for FFXIV (major kudos to you all) that I keep forgetting to bookmark them and can't seem to find ones again. 
> 
> In this fic the Minstrel gets all our fanfiction - wouldn't that make life awkward in game, but it serves the story. Though now that I type that I may expand that idea if it's worth running with -awkward moments at the Seventh Heaven Bar, anyone?
> 
> I am still looking for the fic referenced if anyone can find it...


End file.
